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Topic: Rude to post in other language on fb? (Read 25658 times)

I'm just curious what everyone's opinion is on this. Sometimes I feel like expressing myself in Other Language and not English. Also, it's not like all of my friends only speak English. There are plenty of friends that do speak Other Language and other friends that speak and post on fb in languages that are not English or Other Language. In fact, I have friends from Other Country where Other Language is their first language so their posts are primarily in Other Language. I cannot always understand them without having to use a translator since I am not 100% fluent. I'll usually go back later to read/translate them if I'm only skimming fb really quick and don't have a lot of time.

Anyways, for the most part I post in English. Though a couple times when I have posted in Other Language this one particular friend would say to me things like "What the heck! I can't understand what you're saying! Why would you post in a language I cannot understand?!" I found that to be pretty rude because my fb is for communicating with my friends, plural, and not just her. Plus it is my fb and I should be able to post what I want. And I don't think I'm doing anything offensive or rude IMO. Plus it's really not that hard to use an online translator if you really want to know what something says...

I would say it's only rude if you are doing so in order to "hide" what you are saying from certain people.

If you are going to post in another language a lot, perhaps the easiest thing to do would be to set up a FB group of people who speak your language, and post it just to that group*. I would otherwise probably end up hiding the feed of someone if 90% of their posts were unreadable to me. If it's only the occasional status, I wouldn't even sweat it.

*By this I mean within your existing FB profile, not setting up a whole new one.

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My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world. ~ Jack Layton.

A FB friend of mine posts mostly in a non-English language and occasionally in English. It never occurred to me to think he was being rude. If I want to know what he says I use a translate program, but since his posts are often heavy metal videos, which I don't like, I don't bother.

I think your friend is rude. Hide your posts from him/her or send a link to google translate if they complain again.

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Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.Walt Whitman

Not rude at all. It does mean that some folks will miss out on what you are saying, so if you have big news, it might be best to aim for the larger audience. Next time your friend complains, reply with a link to google translate.

A friend of mine usually posts in Finnish (makes sense, since she lives there). Once in a while I translate, and that was how I found out a month after the fact that she had been hit by a bus while biking. (She's fine now!)

Your friend *is* being rude, however, for trying to dictate what you do on your own facebook.

@Rohanna I only do occasional posts in Other Language which I don't think necessitates its own group just for that

@O'Dell I don't think I should have to hide my posts from this one person. If they don't like it they should hide or even delete me IMO since they are the one with the problem. But I think next time a rude comment like that is made I will simply respond with a link to google translate Thanks!

Tell your friend that if she wants to know what it says she can go to Google Translate and copy & paste if it means that much to her. You're not rude.

Exactly. I have friends who live in another country and speak a totally different language. I wish them happy birthday in their language, and talk to them in their language on their status updates. If someone got upset with that, the complainer could deal.

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"It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends" - Harry Potter

@Rohanna I only do occasional posts in Other Language which I don't think necessitates its own group just for that

@O'Dell I don't think I should have to hide my posts from this one person. If they don't like it they should hide or even delete me IMO since they are the one with the problem. But I think next time a rude comment like that is made I will simply respond with a link to google translate Thanks!

I think that's a great idea. It shows that you don't care if they read it, and you provide them the means to do so.

@Rohanna I only do occasional posts in Other Language which I don't think necessitates its own group just for that

@O'Dell I don't think I should have to hide my posts from this one person. If they don't like it they should hide or even delete me IMO since they are the one with the problem. But I think next time a rude comment like that is made I will simply respond with a link to google translate Thanks!

I think that's a great idea. It shows that you don't care if they read it, and you provide them the means to do so.

Actually there was this one test post I did in Other Language because I had just downloaded a keyboard app on my smartphone that would allow me to type in Other Language. So I made a post to fb in Other Language that said something along the lines of "This is a test. Testing out my new Other Language keyboard app." Someone that speaks Other Language responded in Other Language saying "Nice test!" and then another friend who does not speak Other Language but speaks Other Language2 posted in that language saying "What? What? I can't understand!"

This was not the previous rude friend, this was another friend . She was obviously being funny about it though. I had studied Other Language2 in high school many years ago and still understand some of it. I responded in her language, with a little bit of help from a translator, and restated what my original post said just for fun. Lots of people found that amusing and liked it Languages can be fun!

OP, if I may, where do you live that your friend hasn't got other bi/multi lingual friends? I have Farsi, Welsh, French, Danish and the Philippine language (forgotten it's name, sorry) pop up on my news feed regularly. In fact, my non-Welsh friends have often google translated something I've posted on a mutual welsh friend's wall, formed a reply, put THAT through google translate and posted it. That was cute.

Short answer then: oh for goodness sake, no! English (if so it is) is not the only language in the world, nor is she your only friend. Ignore!

@Rohanna I only do occasional posts in Other Language which I don't think necessitates its own group just for that

@O'Dell I don't think I should have to hide my posts from this one person. If they don't like it they should hide or even delete me IMO since they are the one with the problem. But I think next time a rude comment like that is made I will simply respond with a link to google translate Thanks!

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Don't get me wrong...I didn't suggest hiding your posts to save your friends feelings. I suggested it so you don't have to hear/read her blahblah. I regularly hide things from people to save myself the aggravation of their blathering and likelihood that I'll snark at them.

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Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.Walt Whitman

OP, if I may, where do you live that your friend hasn't got other bi/multi lingual friends? I have Farsi, Welsh, French, Danish and the Philippine language (forgotten it's name, sorry) pop up on my news feed regularly. In fact, my non-Welsh friends have often google translated something I've posted on a mutual welsh friend's wall, formed a reply, put THAT through google translate and posted it. That was cute.

Short answer then: oh for goodness sake, no! English (if so it is) is not the only language in the world, nor is she your only friend. Ignore!

We both live in the US. Different states but the US is a diverse place full of many different cultures and languages, even if the main language is English. I think maybe she's not interested in language or culture, however, that doesn't give her the right to tell other people that they can't be.